Abstract
Encountering racism is burdensome and meeting it in a healthcare setting is no exception. This paper is part of a larger study that focused on understanding and addressing racism in healthcare in Sweden. In the paper, we draw on interviews with 12 ethnic minority healthcare staff who described how they managed emotional labor in their encounters with racism at their workplace. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The analysis revealed that experienced emotional labor arises from two main reasons. The first is the concern and fear that ethnic minority healthcare staff have of adverse consequences for their employment should they be seen engaged in discussing racism. The second concerns the ethical dilemmas when taking care of racist patients since healthcare staff are bound by a duty of providing equal care for all patients as expressed in healthcare institutional regulations. Strategies to manage emotional labor described by the staff include working harder to prove their competence and faking, blocking or hiding their emotions when they encounter racism. The emotional labor implied by these strategies could be intense or traumatizing as indicated by some staff members, and can therefore have negative effects on health. Given that discussions around racism are silenced, it is paramount to create space where racism can be safely discussed and to develop a safe healthcare environment for the benefit of staff and patients.
Highlights
This article is about the ways ethnic minority healthcare staff manage emotional labor when they encounter racism at their workplace in Sweden
Racism in healthcare is complex and operates in various dimensions affecting both ethnic minority healthcare users and healthcare staff, this paper focuses on experiences of healthcare staff
The fear and anxiety which became apparent in our research and are described below, constitute an ‘emotional response tied to existing lives, their topographies, histories and daily insecurities’ (Pain, 2009: 478), and frames how social realities are understood, and, perhaps more significantly, how they are managed. It is in this context, we argue that anxieties expressed by ethnic minority healthcare staff, and more importantly how they coped with those anxieties, can be understood, as emotional labor
Summary
Research has shown that ethnic minority healthcare staff in different parts of the Global north experience both overt and covert racism from patients and others (Criddle et al, 2017; Moceri, 2014; Wingfield & Chavez, 2020). Ethnic majority nurses in the United States and New Zealand were, for example, punished for supporting ethnic minority nurses when the latter indicated they experienced racism in the workplace (Giddings, 2005). It appears that the experiences of racism by ethnic minority staff should just be tolerated (Moceri, 2014). Racism in healthcare is complex and operates in various dimensions affecting both ethnic minority healthcare users and healthcare staff, this paper focuses on experiences of healthcare staff
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
